Preview Tour of Limburg 2025 | Can Girmay score his first win of the season in Belgium?

Looking at the list of winners of the Tour of Limburg, we see a very diverse picture. Top riders such as Mathieu van der Poel (2014 and 2018), Wout van Aert (2017), and Tim Merlier (2021) are among them, while there are also some lesser-known names such as Olivier Chevalier (2013), Kenny Dehaes (2016), and Eduard-Michel Grosu (2019).

Last year, Dylan Groenewegen ended the Belgian winning streak of three years. The Jayco AlUla sprinter was by far the fastest in the bunch sprint and beat Arnaud De Lie, Alexander Kristoff, and Gerben Thijssen, among others.

2023 Gerben Thijssen

As is customary in the Tour of Limburg, the organization has once again planned a beautiful route between the starting point in Hasselt and the finish in Tongeren. The riders will reach the finish in Tongeren significantly earlier than last year, as the 2025 edition is 'only' 178.6 kilometers long, compared to 195.6 kilometers last year.

An opening phase without too many difficulties takes the riders to the local lap around the finish town, which they must complete three times. The lap includes two cobblestone sections (Manshoven and Op de Kriezel) and two hills (Kolmontberg and Zammelenberg), the same difficulties as last year. At least the hills do not have dizzying gradients. The last section is completed with 11 kilometers to go, giving the sprinters time to set up their trains.

Times.

We will never know if it is because of the new date on the calendar, but the fact is that not many big names have included the Tour of Limburg in their schedules this year. One of the few world-class cyclists is Biniam Girmay. The Intermarché-Wanty man will be very optimistic after his successful debut in Paris-Roubaix last Sunday, where he finished fifteenth.

His main competitors will be Kaden Groves and Milan Fretin. The fast riders from Alpecin-Deceuninck and Cofidis, respectively, will not be intimidated by the few difficulties on the route, and both have very strong final sprints. Cofidis has another secret weapon with Stanislaw Aniolkowski, who finished third in 2023.

Any other sprinters? Yes, although they may be of a slightly different level than the sprinters mentioned above. Matteo Moschetti (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), who recently beat Groenewegen twice in the Tour of Hellas, hopes his spring form is still there. The same goes for spring sensation Lukas Kubis (Unibet Tietema Rockets). Tim Torn Teutenberg (Lidl-Trek), Timothy Dupont (Tartaletto-Isorex), Milan Menten (Lotto), Jason Tesson (TotalEnergies), and Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will also be showing up at the start in Hasselt.

Who else? Certainly! The starting list includes several dangerous outsiders in the category of attackers, such as Toms Skujins, Edward Theuns (both Lidl-Trek), Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and Guillermo Thomas Silva (Caja Rural).

Top favorite: Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty)

If you want to follow the Tour of Limburg on Wednesday, you can go to Eurosport or HBO Max streaming platform from 3:30 PM local time (09:30 AM EDT). If you prefer to watch with a Belgian commentator, you can switch to VRT 1 from 3:15 PM local time (09:15 AM EDT).